18. Wherefore I admonish both
men and women who follow after perpetual continence and holy
virginity, that they so set their own good before marriage, as that
they judge not marriage an evil: and that they understand that it
was in no way of deceit, but of plain truth that it was said by the
Apostle, “Whoso gives in marriage does well; and whoso gives not
in marriage, does better; and, if thou shalt have taken a wife,
thou hast not sinned; and, if a virgin shall have been married, she
sinneth not;”205420541 Cor. vii. 38, 28,
40 and a
little after, “But she wilt be more blessed, if she shall have
continued so, according to my judgment.” And, that the judgment
should not be thought human, he adds, “But I think I also have
the Spirit of God.” This is the doctrine of the Lord, this of the
Apostles, this true, this sound, so to choose greater gifts, as
that the lesser be not condemned. The truth of God, in the
Scripture of God, is better than virginity of man in the mind or
flesh of any. Let what is chaste be so loved, as that what is true
be not denied. For what evil thought may they not have even
concerning their own flesh, who believe that the tongue of the
Apostle, in that very place, wherein he was commending virginity of
body, was not virgin from corruption of lying. In the first place,
therefore, and chiefly, let such as choose the good of virginity,
hold most firmly that the holy Scriptures have in nothing spoken
lies; and, thus, that that also is true which is said, “And if
thou shall have taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and, if a
virgin shall have been married, she sinneth not.” And let them
not think that the so great good of virgin chastity is made less,
if marriage shall not be an evil. Yea rather, let her hence feel
confident, rather, that there is prepared for her a palm of greater
glory, who feared not to be condemned, in case she were married,
but desired to receive a more honorable crown, in that she was not
married. Whoso therefore shall be willing to abide without
marriage, let them not flee from marriage as a pitfall of sin; but
let them surmount it as a hill of the lesser good, in order that
they may rest in the mountain of the greater, continence. It is on
this condition, forsooth, that this hill is dwelt on; that one
leave it not when he will. For, “a woman is bound, so long as her
husband liveth.”205520551 Cor. vii. 39 However unto widowed continence
one ascends from it as from a step: but for the sake of virgin
continence, one must either turn aside from it by not consenting to
suitors, or overleap it by anticipating suitors.